Protoconnus peruensis Franz

Jałoszyński, Paweł, 2018, Revision of the Neotropical genus Protoconnus Franz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae), Zootaxa 4392 (1), pp. 41-82 : 57-59

Protoconnus peruensis Franz

( Figs 36 , 44–45 , 97 , 101 )

Protoconnus peruensis Franz, 1967: 718 , Fig. 64 , 85 .

Type material. Lectotype (here designated): PERU (La Convención Province): ♂, three labels ( Fig. 97 ): "Sierra Garavito / b. Quillabamba, 1800 m / Nebelwald,Peru" with "Sa 84" on the reverse side [white, printed], " Protoconnus / peruensis / m. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], "Typus" [red, handwritten] (NHMW). Paralectotype: 1 ♀, same data as for lectotype, with a standard yellow "Paratypus" label (NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. BL 0.99–1.01 mm; body relatively slender, elytra 1.58–1.67 times as broad as moderately transverse pronotum; frons in male slightly impressed between supraantennal tubercles; vertex with rounded but distinctly elevated posterior transverse ridge, with its margin straight in median portion; pronotal base with small but distinct pits and groove; lateral pronotal carinae distinct in posterior third; humeral carinae distinct but not sharp; aedeagus in ventral view nearly gradually narrowing from the broadest site of basal capsule to subtriangular and slightly asymmetrical apex; parameres conspicuously long, nearly parallel-sided.

Redescription. Body of male ( Fig. 36 ) strongly convex, relatively light brown, covered with yellowish setae; BL 0.99 mm.

Head broadest at very large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.25 mm; tempora in lateral view barely discernible, shorter than 1/7 of the longest diameter of eye; vertex flattened at middle, with posterior margin straight in its median portion and developed as a rounded, distinctly elevated ridge, transition between the ridge and tempora slightly angulate; frons slightly impressed between distinct supraantennal tubercles. Punctures on frons and vertex very fine and shallow but dense; setae short, sparse and suberect. Antennae slender, AnL 0.53 mm, slightly more than half as long as body, club distinctly delimited; antennomeres I and II each more than twice as long as broad; III–VIII each about as long as broad or indistinctly elongate, IX and X distinctly transverse, XI much longer than X, about 1.3 × as long as broad.

Pronotum moderately transverse, nearly semicircular, parallel-sided in posterior half; PL 0.24 mm, PW 0.30 mm. Anterior and posterior margins weakly convex, lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior third and nearly straight posteriorly; lateral carinae distinct in posterior third; transverse antebasal groove and five pits distinct. Punctures on pronotal disc slightly more distinct than those on frons and vertex but still inconspicuous, very shallow and diffuse; setae sparse, short, suberect.

Elytra much more convex than pronotum, oval, broadest in front of middle; EL 0.58 mm, EW 0.48 mm, EI 1.21; humeral carinae distinct but not sharp. Punctures and setae similar to those on pronotum.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus ( Figs 44–45 ) moderately slender; AeL 0.20 mm; in ventral view basal capsule slightly shorter than distal region, gradually narrowed distad; distal region laterally delimited from sides of basal capsule by indistinct broadening, broad and subtriangular, slightly asymmetrical, with subtriangular, pointed apex, in lateral view distal half curved dorsad; in lateral view area above parameral bases forming a large angulate projection with its distal margin concave; parameres conspicuously long, recurved, slender, each with one apical and one subapical seta of equal lengths.

Female. Similar to male but with distinctly smaller eyes; tempora in lateral view about as long as 1/4 of the longest diameter of eye. BL 1.01 mm; HL 0.20 mm, HW 0.25 mm, AnL 0.53 mm; PL 0.24 mm, PW 0.30 mm; EL 0.58 mm, EW 0.50 mm, EI 1.15.

Distribution. Southern Peru ( Fig. 101 ).

Remarks. Protoconnus peruensis can be easily identified on the basis of its relatively slender, light brown body with conspicuously long antennae; its aedeagus is most similar to that of P. angustus . The latter species also has relatively slender adults, but they have the antennae distinctly shorter than half BL. The aedeagus of P. peruensis differs from that of P. angustus in much longer parameres (their apices exceeding the apex of median lobe, whereas those in P. angustus do not reach the apex of median lobe); the distal half of the median lobe is much narrower in lateral view; and the median lobe has an additional dorsal 'flange' above the parameral bases, which in lateral view is visible as a distinct subtriangular projection (absent in P. angustus ).

In the original description, Franz (1967) gives additional collecting data for the type series, not included in the labels: 0 5.09.1965.

Lectotype designation. Franz (1967) mentioned five specimens included in the type series, but he did not fix the holotype. The syntypes in fact represent three species. The aedeagus illustrated by Franz (1967, fig. 85) and the habitus (fig. 64) agree with the specimen labeled as " Typus "; one 'paratype' female is conspecific with this specimen. Among the remaining three specimens, one is a male of a new species, described below as P. quillabambanus ; two specimens are males, but they have the aedeagi either lost or partly damaged by Franz, and they can be identified only as Protoconnus sp. The male illustrated in Fig. 36 bearing labels illustrated in Fig. 97 is here designated as a lectotype.

Figures

FIGURE 101. Distribution of nominal Protoconnus species.

FIGURES 34–39. Dorsal habitus of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus araguanus Franz (34); P. paraguayanus Franz (35); P. peruensis Franz (36); P. robustus Franz (37); P. minutus Franz (38); P. minutissimus Franz (39).

FIGURES 40–47. Aedeagi of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus araguanus Franz (40–41); P. paraguayanus Franz (42–43); P. peruensis Franz (44–45); P. robustus Franz (46–47).

FIGURES 90–100. Original labels of primary type specimens of previously described Protoconnus species. Protoconnus andicola Franz (90); P. venezolanus Franz (91); P. bolivianus Franz (92); P. comarapae Franz (93); P. princeps (Franz) (94); P. araguanus Franz (95); P. paraguayanus Franz (96); P. peruensis Franz (97); P. robustus Franz (98); P. minutus Franz (99); P. minutissimus Franz (100).

FIGURES 62–67. Dorsal habitus of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus acutus sp. n. (62); P. minusculus sp. n. (63); P. costaricanus sp. n. (64); P. tunarianus sp. n. (65); P. magnus sp. n. (66); P. apaapa sp. n. (67).

FIGURES 84–85. Dorsal habitus of Protoconnus species. Protoconnus volcanbaru sp. n. (84); P. inexpectatus sp. n. (85).